MediaTel Group Seminar Fuels Media Debate
MediaTel Group’s recent seminar, the ‘Future Of The National Press’ has sparked debate amongst top media players on some of the issues that were raised, such as the NRS and the press’ perceived grim outlook for the industry.
Writing in his weekly column in Marketing Week, event chair Torin Douglas, criticised the National Readership survey, saying that the chairman of the board himself actually believed the survey needed a “significant shake-up”.
“With newspaper readership in steady decline, budgets under pressure, the future of print unclear in the internet age, and more media agencies doing their own bespoke research or, conversely, buying press advertising as a commodity, the purpose and methodology of the NRS has been openly questioned,” he said.
Douglas quoted the recent seminar, saying that NRS chair Simon Marquis and managing director Roger Pratt came out fighting. “NRS is the UK’s gold standard for readership and is regarded by other countries to be a global leader in readership research,” Douglas quoted the pair as saying.
The panel debate, held in London last month, also sparked a surprising response from top agency figures, with Kelly Harrold, head of press at ZenithOptimedia, writing in to Media Week‘s Letters page.
“Scaremongering does not make for a healthy media industry and there has been rather a lot of negativity surrounding newspapers in recent times from certain non-press observers. At the recent MediaTel seminar on ‘The Future of National Press’, however, there was a resounding thumbs up for newspaper brands,” she writes.
“Newspapers are moving beyond paper products and extending their brands across multi-platform. The paper product will also be with us for a long time however, with consumers wanting in-depth analysis and reviews,” she said.
Harrold also went on to discuss issues surrounding freesheets, the NMA and newspapers online, which were also discussed at the comprehensive seminar.
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